So my wife bought me a Honeywell wifi thermostat. It needs a common wire which I dont have in my current wiring. I think I have a handle on wiring the G wire for a common but then I would lose the ability to run the fan on manual. Any thoughts other than running a 5 wire tstat wire rather than the current 4 wire I have now? Thanks Gary
I had the same issue last year when I went to install my Honeywell WiFi thermostat. I ended up just buying the new wire and running it. Since you already have the old wire in place it's a piece of cake. Just tape the new to the old and pull it thru.
I just went through the same thing. I have 5 wires to the thermostat already and didn't want to lose the ability to run the fan manually. I couldn't find thermostat wire with enough conductors around here. I ended up buying 25' 18/2 and ran it between the stat and the furnace, using one conductor for the C wire. I'm fairly lucky that the thermostat is only about 15' from the furnace and running a fish tape up the wall was easy.
Maybe, just maybe, you have enough wire there already. Sometimes, if a five wire is run, the installer will cut off any unused conductors all the way back the the sheathing. Don't know what purpose this serves, but I have seen it more than a handful of times. But as babagaandaasdid or bobdfganoosh Aww heck! As that guy above posted, you can just use the wire that is already there to pull your new t-stat wire through!
A few times we've run a 4 wire or even an 8 wire, just because there wasn't anything else on the truck. So yeah, the extras might be there.
No such luck! That was one of the first things I checked but no extra wires. So I say what the heck and grab 50 ft of 5 wire. The old wire was up above 2 heat runs that were in one bay and the freaking hole for the old wire was only about a millionth of an inch bigger then the old 4 wire! I hate chasing wires and strings in the walls, gave up for tonite. Hope I can get the heat runs back together! Gary
I feel your pain brother. It's easy to get irritated quickly when you're up against conditions like those. Sometimes, you can enlarge the hole but it sounds like you make have to disconnect some ductwork in order to access it. There is always the opportunity to re-locate the T-stat now. Maybe in a location above a return air register (R/A)? Perhaps you could run the new T-stat wire up the back side of a closet or pantry and then through a wall at 5' or so? Every application is a bit different-good luck!
Couldn't do that without cutting the old wire so I had to drill a bigger hole real close to it thru the sub floor and bottom plate at a angle from the basement. Gary
What about something like this? http://www.amazon.com/Venstar-ACC0410-Add-A-Wire-24VAC-Thermostats/dp/B0013LVDQA OR http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0060ASWPE/ref=pd_aw_fbt_60_img_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1PSDWRX47CRK12D7K6P6
Okay, finally got the new wire run and hooked up. Thought I would check with you guys before I flip the switch and start throwing sparks! Furnace to T-stat are hooked up as follows: Red to Red White to White Yellow to Yellow Green to Green Blue is my common hooked to c at the furnace and c at the Stat Anybody with the Honeywell have any problems setting up the wifi part? Or will I have to find a 11 year old kid to do it? Gary
It's been about 6 weeks since I hooked mine up. Nothing too difficult, I just followed the manual. What confused me three times was when I snapped the stat into the base, the furnace blower kicked on. It turned off after about 15 seconds. Must be some type of self test.
Success!! Thanks! This will be a fun toy. Now I can turn the t-stat way up or down from anywhere and make my wife think she is going crazy! Gary
